Ballmer: Windows Phone sales went from very small to very small

Well, you can say a lot of things about Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer but you can’t say the man doesn’t have a sense of humor. At a recent Microsoft partner event, Ballmer acknowledged that Windows Phone 7 hasn’t been the smash hit the company had been hoping for.

“Phones, we’ve gone from very small to very small, but it’s been a heck of a year. And you’re going to see a lot of progress in that market competitively as we move forward.”,” Ballmer said, according to DailyTech.

The recent smartphone data reports that the smartphone market is booming but Microsoft isn’t really riding that wave with Windows Phone. While the iPhone and Android are moving millions of units a day, Microsoft has roughly 5 percent of the U.S. smartphone market.

That percentage isn’t awful – webOS is in an even worse position – but it’s definitely not what Microsoft thought would happen when it introduced Windows Phone last Fall. I think the problem is that the software and hardware is just not quite as good as the competition yet but that should be changing as the next crop of Windows Phone will run the Mango update and feature higher hardware requirements. The Nokia deal should also help it get more handsets on the market.

Any Windows Phone fans out there? Are you regretting your decision now or glad that you chose Windows Phone 7?

Windows Phone is a great OS, at least when you look at it considering its potential. Mango should be what it needs. But does Joe Average think the same? The Nokia deal will indeed boost the sales. And it’s about time a good competitor for Android steps up. I think only WP7 has that potential.

I’m wondering if it has anything to do with their minimum hardware requirement. Each phone is really good, contrary to this article apparently (?). But so good that they’re all really expensive being min 1ghz. I’d never be able find a no-contract phone for 170 bucks except with Android. That argument is bad though because iphones are horribly priced. So I don’t know. I wanted a wp7 phone so badly for reasons of extreme Windows compatibility and minimalism, but no new Canadian carriers will carry them. Nokia hopefully will change that 🙁

Josh

WP7 is an awesome OS! People just aren’t giving it the chance just because Windows Mobile failed them in the past because it was “dull, pale, confusing, etc.”. It’s pretty sad how many people today are saying that a smartphone needs to have all of these timewasting apps (angry birds, tap tap revolution, etc.) and shiny graphics in order to be considered a “smartphone” or else they won’t buy it. I believe that the true definition of a smartphone is something that needs to run fast, respond smoothly, be reliable, and satisfy consumers with more important things, such as looking up an address, contacting people through voice/text, emailing people, etc.. From what I’ve seen, WP7 does almost exactly that. I couldn’t really tell you more because I have never tried a WP7 device, but I would really like to based on what I have seen. Its too bad how many people today are only getting Android phones or iOS just because they have a lot of games on them or the graphics/UI look more sleek than WP7. They are too concerned about cosmetic applications that literally do nothing but provide minimal entertainment. If you want portable entertainment then that is why you buy a Nintendo DS or PSP or something. If you want shiny graphics, get an HDTV. Problem solved! You aren’t really going to expect to get everything you want out of one little device are you??? Well, not yet at least…. anyways, WP7 may look “dull, unreliable, etc.” to some of you out there, but I look for the true value in it, not just apps, UI or missing features that can easily be fixed with a firmware update. I don’t care what all you naysayers out there have to say about how much Windows Phone sucks right now. It sucks because you aren’t giving it a chance. Its always failed you in the past, so you believe that its just going to fail you again. Well its time to put the past behind you and accept that Windows Phone has much more potential to become one of the main OS competitors available than you think it does. I’m not saying that you should get Windows Phone just because I think its cool or anything like that, I’m just saying that you should just give it some consideration and that it deserves a little more respect as a competitor to the smartphone market. It’s a fairly new OS, so why throw it in the trash if you haven’t even given it a chance yet? (please excuse some of the improper grammar, let’s just say I’ve had horrible English teachers in the past. I’ve always believed that getting my point across is more important than how it’s presented.)

Foggy

I am one of those, run IPhone and Android and a bought a Omnia 7 over the weekend, iPhone has always been my primary device till now.

Unfortunately the Omina is now back in the draw after living with it for 4 days, here is why….

No whatsapp application, thought I could live without but could not No Ussd support for multiple menus WiFi issue that even though connected no Internet access, lots of posts on the web about it and through fiddling kinda got it working sometimes Small one but irritating auto brightness is too bright at night No decent Google reader like the Reeder app.

I was running Mango beta 2 as well at this point even Mango did not address my issues

So not selling it because I am hoping when Mango is released officially later this year some of these issues will be addressed because Wp7 is a great OS, far better than Android but not as mature as IOS ‘yet’

Unfortunately, this is the result of Microsoft adapting to changes in the smartphone race too late. It’s not all lost though. WP7 is a pretty good OS and if you can get it on good hardware (Nokia?) and get devs to support the platform more then we’ll probably see more sales.

Bupkus36

My Windows phone is my first smart phone, so I can’t compare to Iphone or Android. I will say, I’m very pleased with it and find it very intuitive. Yeah, there are a few absent features that I’d like…but that’s what updates are for, right?

I have an Atrix, Also a Samsung Galaxy S2 and I am super impresed by the power of my Samsung Focus, With half the specs of the Galaxy S2 it feels very smoth. Also WP is a lot better than Andorid and IOS in App organization. The Apps of the same types goes to specialized hubs. I can’t wait for Mango..

Mark

I don’t think it matters if Windows Phone 7 is marginally better as some of fans posting here suggest. You need an application developer ecosystem, like the one Microsoft used to crush Apple in the early PC days. In phones, those ecosystems below to iOS and Android, and economies of networking means that the strong get stronger and the weak get weaker.